Even if you are used to ordering the finest vintages at restaurants, you may not have the first of clues on how to serve it right. Serving wine is an art, but luckily it is one that you can learn fairly quickly.

Decanting
Decanting is not another fancy word, it describes the process of pouring wine from one container to another. This helps filter out any sediment that might be in the wine bottle, and it also exposes the wine to oxygen, allowing it to breathe.

Uncork the bottle and pour it slowly into the decanter. Pouring slowly prevents the sediment from simply slopping into the new container. Let the wine sit out for half an hour to 2 hours.

Photo Credit: [http://www.montesquieuwinelovers.com/wp-content/uploads/decanting-wine.jpg]Opening the Wine
If you choose not to decant the wine, you may need to open the bottle at the table. Do not worry about making a fuss with the cork or the screw-top.

Once upon a time, restaurants made a great show of opening bottles to prove to diners that they had not at one point opened the bottle and replaced the good wine with something of a poor quality. Chances are, your guests are not going to be worried about this unless you have done something seriously wrong in the past.

Photo Credit: [http://acqtaste.com/wp-content/uploads/open-wine1.jpg]The Classic Sampling
A surprising 10 percent of corked wines end up with mold inside the bottle, turning the liquid undrinkable. Sampling is a good way to determine if mold has in fact ruined the wine. Usually the host samples the wine before serving his or her guests.

Photo Credit: [http://www.ontraksoftware.com/Portals/73834/images/Wine%20Sampling%20-%20Wine%20Tasting.jpg]Pouring
Wine bottles have fairly narrow mouths, and because of that, spilling is actually not terribly common. When you go to fill the glasses, pour slowly, and don’t worry about tricks like holding the bottle high.

Fill the wine glasses to the halfway point. This not only allows the wine to breathe, but also functions as a good compromise between people who love wine and people who only want a few sips. You can always refill their glasses later on.

Photo Credit: [http://www.contentwire.com/img/6zDE7ND3XNWcaiHK.JPG]Where should I put the Bottle?
Wine is always served cold or chilled. After serving place the wine in the ice bucket. This ensures that your wine will still be desirable when people want seconds.

Featured Image Photo Credit: <a href=”http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=25334&picture=wineglass-and-champagne”>Wineglass And Champagne</a> by George Hodan